Oral History

I interviewed a 24 year old Caucasian female who has chosen to remain nameless. She is currently an unemployed K-8 teacher with several years of experience but has had no luck finding a job this year. She has been substituting a couple of days here and there to supplement her income but the unsteadiness of her income has been frustrating.

How do you feel about not having a job right now?

It’s boring; I sit around all day like a housewife. I clean on most days but sometimes that gets boring too. I’m doing things I normally wouldn’t do like cleaning out storage place, I’m also doing chores so I can get an allowance. I feel like a 12 year old. I’ve been watching more talk shows then I ever had in my life and I’m watching the news more.

Do you feel there are any benefits to being unemployed?

I have clean laundry most of the time. I get to make a delicious lunch that’s different every day. I get to read a lot of books because I have time. There are not many benefits because I have no money to do anything or anyone to hang out with since everyone is at work but me.

Do you feel more or less stressed from not working?

Less, I feel stress free except for when I think about money. I did discover though that I never want to be a stay at home mom.

Why do you think you haven’t been able to find a job?

The economy is part of it, the job cuts have been across the board. I don’t have experience where people want me to have experience. I don’t know anybody, I have no connections. I also don’t speak Spanish. When I go to job fairs people don’t want to talk to me since I’m white and I went to a good college so they assume I have a lot of money. The administrations wont hire you unless you completely agree with them on their views, they are afraid of having someone at the school that may want to try a new method of teaching. The people I worked with just wanted to put in their hours and have summers off, the lack of passion in some of these teachers is upsetting especially when someone like myself cant find a job.

So you care about the kids?

Yes, I would definitely say so, more so than some of my previous coworkers. I am young but I have great ideas and I would like the opportunity to showcase them. I’m not saying all teachers don’t care but some of the tenured teachers know they have job security so they do the same thing over and over again and it doesn’t work for the current generation of kids. Kids are changing and the curriculum used in the classroom should change to be able to educate these kids.